O’Sullivan shows true grit as she makes it to final
She finished seventh in last night’s first round heat.
She was going to have to run her best race of the year to get through last night’s first round heat because she was drawn against the world record holder and raging hot favourite for the gold medal, Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey.
It was always going to be a race to excite the imagination.
During the week Nic Bideau said she was ready to run it and she did.
It may not have been her fastest time of the year but it certainly showed that she can mix it and while she finished back in the field seventh in 14:59.61 behind Meserat Defar of Ethiopia who won in 14:52.39 - the performance was good enough to keep the Olympic dream alive.
She battled her way into a challenging position on he first lap but ended up mid division as the pushing and shoving continued. She moved to the outside to take the lead from the two Kenyans. A 76.74 lap and the world record holder joined her.
Through a 73-second lap, O’Sullivan was looking smooth and comfortable with Guinara Samitova of Russia tracking her.
Isavella Ochichi of Kenya went second and they passed 2,000m in 6:06. Sonia almost came a cropper when Ochichi clashed with her and she ended up back in seventh place.
Now Ochichi led from Abeylegesse and Margaret Maury of France with the Chinese girl battling back into contention on the outside and the other Kenyan, Jane Wanjiku, close up.
They went through 3,000m in a modest 9:07.66 and Sonia O’Sullivan looked comfortable with the pace.
Sonia was still comfortable even though she was overtaken by Joanne Pavey and the pace upped with a 68-second lap with five away and three, including Sonia O’Sullivan, chasing.
Pavey then joined the leaders too and Sonia was left isolated some 30 metres behind the leading group and showing the strain.
The Ethiopian, Meseret Defar sprinted clear of the world record holder and Joanne Pavey moved up into third place.
Sonia maintained her position and this was the type of performance she came here for.
She qualified easily in the end, second fastest of the five fastest losers that joined the top five from each heat in Monday night’s final, and she was thrilled with the way things went.
“It was plan B,” she said.
“Plan A was to be in the top five and plan B was to be eight or as close to it as possible. I thought eighth under 15:20 would make the final.”
“I kept thinking eight get away and you can relax but you can¹t relax when there are so may people around the place,” she said. “As soon as I was on my own I knew I just had to keep running as hard as I could.”
She admitted the slow early pace was a concern and that was why she went up and took the lead and it was much safer up there too.
“The early pace was slow slow it could have ended in disaster. It could have been about 15:30 and then I would not be in the final. I knew I had to do something. I was not comfortable in there. I was better off doings omething,” she said.
“I was not really anxious or anything at any time - maybe the first lap was the only time when there was a lot of pushing and shoving and it was so slow. It was stupid. I could not believe people would do that - run so slow over the first lap especially when you know what it is going to take to get into the final.
“Eighth was my deadline. I really was not in there to make the top five. It was very hot out there.”
Asked how much of the old Sonia is there she replied: “It’s all there. I felt fantastic. I was probably quite anxious going into the race. Then maybe I was too relaxed for a time. I set out to get to the final. I had huge motivation. My Mum and Dad and the kids are coming out on Sunday. They have got tickets for the Stadium on Monday night and I wanted to be in there.
“I trained hard right up until Tuesday. I'll be well and truly rested by Monday,” she said.
“I really have not thought about the final yet.
I’ll just have to think about plans A, B and C Hopefully plan A will be the one I’ll end up with.”
Meanwhile, Maria McCambridge finished at the back of the field in the first heat - 15th in 15:57.42 - in the first heat of the 5,000m.
She drifted back as Emilie Mondor from Canada set the pace ahead of the Chinese Yingie Sun and Ethiopia’s Sentayehu Ejigu. Sun went to the front followed by Tirunesh Dibaba. Laps of just under 69 seconds had the field in pieces with just six runners in contention up front as the pace dropped to around 71 second laps as they passed 3,000m in 8:59.03.
Sun continued to blaze a trail followed by the two Ethiopians, Dibaba and Ejigu, the two Russians, Liliya Shobukhova and Yelena Zadorozhnaya and Kenya’s Edith Masaia.
The German, Irina Mikitenko was chasing from a distance and nobody else was in contention. The German joined them to make a leading group of seven at the bell after a 73.24 sec lap. Dibaba raced to the front followed by her team mate and the Russians on the back straight but she held on to win in 15:00.69. Ejigu finished second with Yelena Zadorozhnaya third.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
